There’s a saying: “Failure is the back door to success”, but with the number of failings that I see and experience, I wonder if failure is instead the front door to success!

READ 2 Kings 1 Make notes, if you’d like, of what stands out for you. Feel free to use the “Leave a Comment” box below to also write some of your thoughts.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Self Portrait 2008

After 23 years working for an International Charity, I was told that I had “a problem with leadership”! I’d spent 23 years climbing a “successful working career” ladder, only to find myself broken on the ground like Humpty Dumpty who fell off the wall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put me back together again. I needed divine intervention to walk my way out of such a crash’n’burn failure.

In the remaining months of 2008, my God became my Father God and I came to understand that, in Him, I was captivating. By the beginning of 2009, I’d learnt that my strengths – the ones my Maker had woven into my blueprint design when He knitted me together in my mother’s womb[a] – were Significance, Focus, Achiever, Command and Belief, and what I’d achieved with that investment, and who I’d become, brought Him deep pride.[b]

So watching Father God’s interactions with Elijah over the past three breadcrumbs, gives me hope yet again. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah rises to eternal acclaim. His story is still read and discussed 2,800 years after his lifetime. In 1 Kings 19, however, he’s a fugitive under a life sentence who’s hiding out in a cave! In today’s chapter, Father God miraculously protects him against “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men”, through unprecedented divine intervention. [v9-15]

But while we may not see fire falling from heaven in answer to our prayer, we don’t have to spend our lives accessing success through the back door, as a result of all our failures. In light of the experience I’ve now gained from all my failures – I sit, as Elijah did, in the wide open space of the front door to success, knowing now who my Maker is, who I now am in Him, and who He’s designed me to be. Read More? …CLICK on “16 June – Additional Notes”

But what about your thoughts – can you tell me what today’s “breadcrumb” is? Leave a note in the “Comments” box below to tell me what you think of today’s chapter.

Finding it hard to speak directly to your Maker? The rest of this webpage uses Jesus’ own prayer to help…[c]

THE LORD’S PRAYER:

1. Praise: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come! Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven …”

I’ll praise You, Lord, because Your right hand is majestic in power. Your right hand has shattered the enemy! [Exodus 15:6]

Your Country: Crisis Help Lines

Yourself: Needs of your personal friends

Your concerns for today

Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of Your love. In Your great mercy, turn to me. [Psalm 69:16]

3. Admit: “…Forgive us our sin as we forgive those who sin against us…”

What other nation is so great, Father God, as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws set out before me today! [Deuteronomy 4:8]

4. Protect: “…Lead us not into temptation but delivers us from evil.”

Jesus said: “The one who is victorious will be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the Book of Life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and His angels.” [Revelation 3:5]

“For Yours Lord is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory now and forever. Amen!”

When questioned, tested, tricked or in His hour of great need, Jesus spoke what was previously written in God’s Word.[e] So, the final section on this page is about memorizing the script through 10 topics. Following these will help you learn 52 portions from the bible in a year! THIS WEEK’S MEMORY VERSE: Using our Gifting

“God also testified to this salvation by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.” [Hebrews 2:4]